Your tax dollars at work!

We really need to spend more money on education!

As some readers may know, we live in a rural area.  We have to drive down a two-lane road, "H Highway" which runs into our road, to get to town.  H Highway is about 3 miles long, total.    It is state-maintained, by MODOT (Missouri Department of Transportation.)  They mow the grass along the sides of the road, they plow it in the winter, they put up complimentary signs for those organizations who want to pick up trash along the road, and keep it pretty.  This is common in Missouri, and perhaps many other states as well.

So at the beginning and the end of H Highway, there are these signs.

 

I put both signs up, so you wouldn't think I just took a picture of one sign, or lied about the fact that both signs are misspelled!!!  If you can't see the problem, look at the way "highway" is spelled.  So not only did the highway department screw up, they screwed up twice!!!

As frosting on the cake, I have never seen anyone picking up trash along this road.  You can get specially colored plastic bags (generally bright blue or orange) from the highway department for such purposes as they then know to pick up the bags when they see them on the roadway.

Welcome to America! 

The Killing Field

It happened again.  A trail of Blue Jay feathers outside my back door.  This is probably the third time I've found this phenomenon.  Score "plus one" for the hawk, and "minus one" for the Blue Jay.  I've never actually seen it, just the aftermath.

I believe it to be a hawk, as I've seen them swooping around the back of the house, upon occasion.  One nearly ran into my forehead as I was coming around the corner to go inside after work.  Flew so fast I couldn't even begin to tell you what type of hawk!

We get sooooo many birds at our feeders, from three varieties of woodpeckers, to every type of local sparrow.  The Blue Jays, not so much.  And as this goes on, they're becoming less and less.  Wonder what the attraction is.  Are they too "blue" for the hawk?  Although I must say, I have Indigo Buntings (not truely blue) and Bluebirds in abundance.  Are they too cocky in their demeanor?  Do they not heed the warnings the other birds give out when they spy a hawk?

I also wonder what's happening at the nest of the Blue jays?  If indeed there is a nest.  Or was a nest. 

As my "forest" behind the house changes with trees growing, trees falling, vegetation changing, so the bird dynamics change also.  Every day brings renewed insight.

When is a yellow light not a yellow light?

Obviously when it turns RED!!!

Yes, I'm shouting "RED" as recently, I have seen far too many people going through red lights, because they "thought" the right would still be yellow when they reached it.   Although I must admit I did see someone go through a red light, from a stand still because they obviously thought the opposing green took way too long to turn red!  (It changed right after they went through the intersection.)

Now, thank the Lord that there appears to be a short hesitation before the opposing light turns green.  They used to be timed so that when one changed, the other changed simultaneously.  Of course there were people who would wait for that,  jump the gun, and race out from the light. 

When you see yellow, unless it's turned shortly before you get to the intersection, you should SLOW DOWN AND STOP!!!  If you get t-boned in the intersection, you might get killed.  (So you're now effectively out of the gene pool!  Probably a good thing.)  You might also be the reason the person(s) in the other car were killed.  And it's NOT their fault!  they were OBEYING the lights!

And one more thing, if you're behind me, I WILL stop for the yellow, so don't tailgate me, thinking I'm going to go through!  I've already been rear-ended once, for that reason, and the next time, I WILL make your life and your insurance company miserable!!!  

Crunching the numbers...

When I bought my car, a 1998 Pontiac Grand Am, I filled it up once a week, and it cost me about $16.00.  Today, if I were to fill it up, it would cost me over $45.00.  During that time my income went up a bit, but not to the tune of an extra $30/week, and then it went away completely, as I'm now unemployed.

I've always tried to drive cars that got at least 25/mpg.    There are more efficient cars out there now for sale, but since I'm unemployed, how do I make those car payments?   It's a slippery slope that many of us cannot get up and appear to be sliding back faster.

Wish I had some answers to life's everyday problems.    Maybe I'll declare myself a 501-3c non-profit organization (I already feel like one) and take public donations!  Better than denigrating myself to collect "welfare!"

The laundry

Yes, one of those mundane projects that gets addressed too infrequently around here.  And so I probably should not complain when I'm not the one doing it, but still, is it not the wife's place to nag now and then?

I say this because I know when I was a kid, I was taught how to do laundry "properly."  You put delicates in with the same (think fancy underwear, of which I had none.)  You put dark clothes with dark,  and whites with white.  Those were the days when clothes dye was not stable  and red shirts were notorious for fading on to everything else (remember's Dad's pink "tighty whities?")  Bleach was only used for white clothes, and never put in before all the wash water was in, so as to be diluted immediately.   Nowadays those problems have been eliminated.  Except for the bleach.  But there is more stable bleach that can be used for "colored clothes."

The problem I am facing, is that hubby washes by the layer method.  He puts in whatever is in the "first layer" of clothing until the washer looks full, and then proceeds to wash it.  Sock, towels, underwear, jeans...all go in at the same time.    Then when they're in the dryer, the next layer down goes in to the wash machine.  And so forth and so on.

As far as the dryer is concerned, when that load is finished, it gets piled on top of the dryer, while the next load goes in.  And the third layer of clothes is now washing.  Did you miss the "folding" part?  It's virtually nonexistant.  Especially when it comes to "fitted sheets," which I learned from Martha Stewart, I WAS folding correctly.

Well, I guess I DO contribute to the wash cycle, as I'm the official folder.  I'd just prefer to do it as the laundry came out of the dryer, and not pull from the pile on top of the dryer!   I guess it's all a matter of timing!

Pasture management...part 3a (therefore...)

I finally got up the nerve to look over the pasture I mowed a few weeks back.    I must say that it looks amazing.  The area of blackberries is coming back, and so I'll have to knock them down again to insure getting rid of them once and for all, but the other areas...yowza!  Of course the horses haven't been allowed up there yet, but the wild flowers, the clover, and most important, the milk weed is tremendous!  I will be taking pictures of the butterflies all over them, for identification, but more for posterity.    Some of them are becoming endangered due to loss of habitat and chemicals that everyone wants to use to excess on their precious grass and flowers.

But this was a short trip, because I forgot a few things.  They are listed, in no particular order:

1. Mosquitos are out all during the day, not just early morning and late evening.  Therefore I must have bug spray on.
2. Poison ivy is also everywhere and growing taller than me.  Therefore I must put on long sleeves and/or ivy block to avoid a second round of it.
3. No matter what socks I wear with my boots, they will slide down and I will be walking out of them, inside the boots.  Therefore I need to wear tighter fitting socks and/or tennis socks, which should stay up.
4.  It's hot outside, no matter what time of the day.  There may be a breeze, but unless you're in the shade, that breeze doesn't mean anything.   You will sweat, even if you're just going for a walk.  Therefore if you're going to do something later, come back in early enough to give yourself time to shower.
5. Ticks are out all day long too.  As of this writing I've pulled three off me.   They're not as common in the grassy areas, but I have to walk through some tall bushy areas before I get to the back pasture. Therefore I must remember bug spray to eliminate that problem too.  (I pulled #4 off when I found him in the shower!)

But the pasture looked amazing!!!